CIS Event Exploits ‘Mind Boggling’ Health Care Reform To Promote Reduced Immigration. CIS and Rector aren’t likely to admit it, but the Congressional Budget Office estimates that, had the US legalized undocumented immigrants under the 2007 immigration bill, it would have generated $48 billion in new revenue from administrative fees and income and payroll taxes alone. -Andrea Christina Nill

Truckfuls of Bodies. The ultimate step in avoiding periodic wars, which are inevitable in a system of international lawlessness, is to make statesmen responsible to law. -David Swanson

Progressives Mobilize to Save Obama, Democratic Party. Republicans thought the “just say no” strategy that killed the Clinton plan would also work in 2009. But they forgot that this strategy now lacks the element of surprise, and that the Internet now prevents the corporate media from entirely controlling the debate. -Randy Shaw

When Are White People Going to Get Over It? Until this past November 4, I didn’t believe this country would ever elect an African American to the presidency. I still don’t believe I’ll live long enough to see us white people get over our racism problem. -Andrew Manis

When Courts Inflict Cruelty: Is Ronald George the New Roger Taney? Civilization didn’t collapse when traditional Jews had multiple wives in Biblical times or when Moslems had four wives as permitted by the Quran, or when Utah was founded by men with plural wives. Civilization didn’t collapse with the end of legally enforced segregation. And it hasn’t collapsed in the states which allow same-sex marriage. -Tom Hall

Iraq: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors. Trying to recreate Iraq’s multicultural ethno-sectarian mosaic after intense civil strife is an appealing idea, but the history of ethno-sectarian conflict shows it to be dangerous. -Ivan Eland

Remember When Health Insurance Was a Great Idea? The fact of the matter is that the medical delivery system can certainly use improvement, which is being done by, among other things, the importation of systems-management procedures; and clinical trials of various sorts; but the insurance industry is of no help in either effecting these improvements or in the diagnosing or treating of patients. It merely adds another obnoxious burden, the aggravation and financial cost that all of us must bear. -Gustav Schonfeld

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Xavier Becerra

Minuteman Civil Defense Corps President Named in Property Tax Scam Lawsuit. It’s pretty ironic that someone who is so worried about “illegal” immigrants harming US citizens is currently being accused of scamming unsuspecting American homeowners and breaking the law herself. -Andrea Christina Nill

The Plan for White Slavery. Thus after a history of repeated othering of African Americans in the US, it is not unusual for the picture of the black thief climbing through the windows of our homes to evolve into the imaginings of a black man in the White House stealing our healthcare and hard fought freedoms. -John Delloro

Mr. Becerra: Go to Washington! We Need a Hero in Health Care Reform. I met you at a town hall meeting and was so impressed with how conscientiously you listened to every person in attendance and how sensitively you represent our district. I know you will not fail us now on this most important issue of health care reform. -Nancy Becker Kennedy

The People’s Budget Fix. The “Prison Population and Budget Reduction Package” proposed by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is like a drunk person walking home from a bar – it knows where it wants to go but oftentimes you find it stumbling off the sidewalk or turning down the wrong street. -Natasha Minsker

How Tough Is Our President? The President’s centeredness, calm, and dignity inspire trust but also suggest a certain lack of combativeness, a reluctance to express indignation, and an unwillingness to identify enemies — resulting in a tendency toward compromise even at the early stages of controversy. -Robert Reich

Winners and Losers in the American Warfare State. After the long-suffering civilian population of Iraq, whose “crime” was having oil — a country that has been rendered virtually unlivable—the big losers are the American taxpayers who are bleeding income, jobs, and quality of life, not just sacrificing family members, on behalf of a runaway war machine. -Sherwood Ross

How Bad Is America’s Healthcare Crisis? The questions for this survey were drawn from a presentation by Dr. Matt Hendrickson, founder of the Southern California Chapter of Physicians for National Healthcare Program, which we reported on in “A Long and Winding. -Dick and Sharon

Private Postsecondary Institutions Need Oversight Now. Absent constructive and reasonable suggestions, this heels-dug-in approach to government gives the appearance that these groups would prefer the “wild west” environment currently in place to the structure provided by AB 48. -Anthony Portantino

Troy Anthony Davis Update. Troy Anthony Davis continues to fight for justice. This week a minor victory was accomplished. The following message was distributed by Amnesty International: On August 17, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court granted Troy Davis the chance. -Sharon Kyle

Who Is Behind the Privatization of Public Education? This whole alarming privatization process is accelerating across the country and here in California, propelled by corporate interests who are writing state legislation and school board policies to facilitate their takeover of public schools. -Anne Zerrien-Lee

Don Lemon & CNN, No to “Real Americans” – Yes to Real Journalism! While I applaud Mr. Lemon for confronting Hardage, I wonder where his and corporate media’s outrage has been for the last eight years while the patriotism of those who opposed George Bush was constantly assailed. Instead of challenging accusations against Bush dissenters, corporate media embraced them. In fact they indulged them. -Linda Milazzo

Citizen Chuck in Health Care Land, and the End of Civilization as We Know It. Today, as I left the market, a paid signature gatherer asked me to endorse cutting state spending. I asked her if she knew that, after adjusting for inflation and population, California’s state spending has grown insignificantly in the past two decades. The state’s deficits exist because we reduced taxes, starting with proposition 13. -Adam Eran

The Public Option’s Last Stand, and the Public’s.Without a public, Medicare-like option, health care reform is a bandaid for a system in critical condition. There’s no way to push private insurers to become more efficient and provide better value to Americans without being forced to compete with a public option. -Robert Reich

States and Localities Critical to Immigration Policies. As a result of Congress’s inaction, states and localities are feeling pressure to take action on immigration, and many of the policies that directly impact immigrants’ lives—law enforcement, public benefits, driver’s licenses—are being driven by new state and local laws. -Michele Waslin

Gavin Newsom’s Impressive Town Hall in Sacramento. Mayor Newsom is the most exciting thing to happen to California politics in years. He has started his campaign early, enlisted the help of an army of energetic young people who represent the future of the state, and promises to lift California out of the morass the deadening hands of the Republicans have submerged us in. -Joseph Palermo

The Naked Truth: Big Government vs. Big Business. On the presidential campaign trail, Christina Chavez reminded us that her father, Cesar Chavez, once said that we don’t need perfect government but perfect participation. Criticism comes easy to those who have been long disappointed but hope lives on imagination, perseverance, and initiative. -John Delloro

Fascism: Are We There Yet? It is up to us to defend and improve our democracy more effectively than the Germans of 80 years ago. This implies not only vigilance and willingness to do political battle, but as important, a willingness to acknowledge and respond to the real concerns of honest conservatives who might otherwise be seduced by Rush Limbaugh and his colleagues. -John Peeler

Healthcare Myths and Reality. Reform will benefit small business – not burden it: It’s a myth that health insurance reform will hurt small businesses. To the contrary, reform will ease the burdens on small businesses, provide tax credits to help them pay for employee coverage and help level the playing field with big firms who pay much less to cover their employees on average.

Wellness

Carole Bartolotto: The problem with concluding that GMOs are safe is that the argument for their safety rests solely on animal studies. These studies are offered as evidence that the debate over GMOs is over. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Environmentalism

Walker Foley: Elected officials seem to think there’s only one side of this property rights argument. The people who live in these communities have rights too, but the oil companies seem to have the jump on [the politicians’] side of the fence.